Laxism and Rigorism: Theologies or Cultures?

The years 1640-1700 were in France the occasion of a constant and violent conflict over moral issues that cannot be identified with the quarrels over Jansenism as such. The effects of this quarrel can be traced both in the making and teaching of moral theology in each of the two conflicting traditions, and in the moral framework for moral behaviors they provide. French historiography has subscribed to the view that at the end of the 17^th century one could speak of a “rigorist consensus” in France that was to last through the entire 18^th century.
Nevertheless, testimony from partisans of strict morals at the end of the century continues to decry the power and influence of laxity in French society. Through the study of two controversies set at the turn of the century, we have tried to see which state each tradition (i.e., indulgent and strict) had reached in its own development. We are led to acknowledge the permanence of the indulgent tradition which, while adopting a defensive posture with respect to its earlier positions, seems able to maintain a few of the central convictions proper to it. One is then led to reconsider the methodology of the theological quarrel whose primary field seems to be culture rather than theology itself.